86 model 4

[djford]

A guy on eBay sold a red model 4 says its one of the first to leave the factory because it has no Jackson logos on the pick ups and has no neck plate gasket. Has any body ever hear this?

[modelseriesman]

True and true. These earliest guitars, between 222XXX to about 227XXX they call "Original Runs".

Originally the Jackson pickups had no logo. Nor did the neckplates come with a gasket.

[Rich#6]

Yes on the pickups. although you can't judge the bolt ons that well because of the grab a plate from the box way of serial numbers, I have the 56th model 6 made and it did not have logos on the pickups.

[djford]

Yes on the pickups. although you can't judge the bolt ons that well because of the grab a plate from the box way of serial numbers, I have the 56th model 6 made and it did not have logos on the pickups.

How thin is that neck

[modelseriesman]

Actually, you can easily tell a plate designed for no gasket as they are considerably thicker than those that followed intended for use with a gasket.

[Tricky]

I'm not all that sure about the no plate gasket claims. My 84 SD has a plate gasket.
I do know I have owned several 86s, and none of them came with pup logos.
I have three 86s right now. One Model 2, and two Model 3s. All with dark pole J90s.

There are differences in the two Model 3s. Not mods.
First and most noticeable is the switch type.
My white one has the normal 5-way switch with plastic housing and is consistent with the majority out there.

The other one, (black) came with a superswitch type with metal housing.
The mounting screws on the switch, and the holes in the pickguard are narrower than normal.
The average plastic housing switch wont mount in the guard.
Pots are different than the standard Model pots. Full size, just different.
Another difference in this guitar was the 5200 trem. The 5200s normally have a separate bolt-on piece where it pivots on the posts.
This one didn't. base is all one piece. Also this one didn't have the heavy duty posts.
There are also some very minor differences in the electronic and trem cavity routing.

They all have 2710s on them now, and are damn good players.

[modelseriesman]

I'm not all that sure about the no plate gasket claims. My 84 SD has a plate gasket.

We're talking imports made by Chusin Gakki, not San Dimas. The first several thousand bolt-ons indeed had no gasket.

[Tricky]

OK. My thoughts were just that Jackson/Charvel were using gaskets prior to the Models.
Whats your take on the black Model 3 that I have?

Any thoughts out there?

[Rich#6]

How thin is that neck

I don't consider it that thin. I would compare it to many Dk2s I've played.

[xenophobe]

Neck profiles were hand shaped at Cushin Gakki just as they were in the US. I remember when they first came out... one of my local stores bought a whole wall of Charvel and I was the 2nd or 3rd person to buy one there. I tried them all and each one had a slightly different profile. That's one of the reasons why I loved Charvel back then... you had to do a little searching to find the neck that you liked the most. They all played great, but there was something unique about all of them back then.

[mm2002]

That was my guitar, and yes it was 100% legit. I've been selling off most of my old Charvel collection. I had 3 successive model 4's, all red. The earliest had no pickup logo's or neck plate gasket, the middle had pickup logos that weren't painted white, and no neck plate gasket, and the latest had white logos and a neck plate gasket. They made several changes in 1986.